Sacre Bleu! Peugeot's new chi-chi supermini with sliding doors had first appeared at the 2002 Paris Motor Salon as the Sesamé concept, but that name was registered to 17 other users, including makers of industrial adhesives and oil pipeline valves. Besides, as Peugeot CEO Frédéric St Geours said: "Using Sesamé would emphasise the sliding doors too much."

So would international trademark registrations kybosh this new car before it even had a name? What about 1001? No, that belongs to the cleaning foam. Try 2007? The Scout Association's. Or 2002? BMW's. OK, then, what about 008? Peugeot owns it but not in the UK.

Suddenly Bertrand had a Eureka moment (don't bother: 44 registrations including Eureka! The Museum for Children in Halifax, Yorks). What about 1007? Heart FM and Star radio stations own 100.7, Ian Fleming Publications and Danjaq LLC (the Bond film people) own 007, but 1007 is free and Peugeot filed for its use the following day.

Peugeot's PR and marketing departments went into paroxysms of "Bondage". Press releases were headed, "For your eyes only" and "Licensed to slide", and technical briefings commenced with: "Now pay attention Bond." But then Bertrand received a short and official-looking letter. Strangely, although no one actually owns the trademark "Double O Seven", M was unhappy with its potential use by Peugeot and the carmaker backed off.

So we have to call it "the one thousand and seven". Not as catchy but nothing an injection of ditzy celeb power (Sadie Frost and Jemima French) or a pricey ad campaign can't fix. More to the point, however, does the world really need an urban hatchback with sliding doors? Er, well...

Based on the Citroën C2 platform and built in Poissy, France, the 1007 is a high-roofed four-seater that is smaller and a lot more luxurious and trendy than the obvious competition from Renault's Kangoo or Citroën's Berlingo. Frankly, it's not the prettiest thing on four wheels and if you are after street-smart style, then the BMW MINI is still the Daddy.

It's also quite heavy. Those sliding doors weigh 88lb each and when you add in the extra strengthening required after making two great big holes in the side, plus the door motors and safety stuff, you are adding at least 250lb to the weight of an equivalent small hatchback, with a large proportion of it high off the ground. It's also expensive. Think of a Peugeot 206 with the weight and the price sticker of a Peugeot 306 and you won't be short of the mark.

The doors open electrically by remote control, via facia buttons and conventional handles, or manually via the same handles. To prevent them acting as horizontal guillotines, they can't be powered shut at speeds above 5kph, or on inclines of more than 20 degrees.

They can, however, be opened manually at any speed; once open they blow back half way and, with the electric motor acting as a brake, you can't shut them again. This must be every parent's nightmare: a child in the passenger seat at 80mph with the door stuck open...

Peugeot seemed almost offended that we had raised the issue of safety - usually a sure sign a point has struck home. We suggested that the 1007's existing circuitry could be modified to lock both doors at speeds above 5mph, which would be an urban security aid as well as a safety measure.

Peugeot rejected this, saying the doors might need to be opened when the car is moving, "in emergency cases". We asked Frédéric St Geours if he could name a single instance of a rescue from a vehicle at speeds above 5mph and he shrugged in defeat.

The 1007 has done well in more conventional measures of safety, namely the NCAP crash tests, in which it scored an unprecedented 36.1 out of a potential 37 points in its class and the coveted five stars. Standard equipment includes seven airbags, an electronic stability program (ESP) and emergency brake assist.

Apart from the safety issue, the sliding doors are cool. You can open them on the key fob and simply walk straight into the car. Car park access is not quite the boon suggested in Peugeot's bumf, as the open doors make the 1007 8mm wider on each side than its wing mirrors, but it is certainly easier than with a conventional car.

Accommodation is generous and plush. Front or rear, there's loads of leg and headroom, and the seats are beautifully comfortable and supportive. The cabin design is fresh and different, with replaceable colour panels on the seats, ventilators, doors and dashboard (each car comes with an alternative colour set) and there are loads of storage spaces.

The boot is not generous, but the rear seats roll forward or fold up completely to allow a larger load space and the front passenger seat can be folded up, too. Vistas through the huge windows are comprehensive and one can't help feeling that the 1007 is a sort of futuristic urban travel pod soon to take a co-starring role in a Luc Besson film.

Three engines will be offered at the launch at the end of July: 1.4- and 1.6-litre petrol and a 1.4-litre turbodiesel. The 1.4-petrol gets the choice of five-speed manual, or "2-tronic" semi-automatic transmissions, the diesel only gets the manual and the 1.6 the semi-auto.

You would have to go far back into the archives of many motoring magazines to find anything as slow as the 1.4, especially the semi-automatic version, which has the sort of urge detectable only under an electron-scanning microscope. Even in town, the 1.2-ton car is blown away at the lights by mopeds and is unable to dart and wriggle into gaps, which seems the prerequisite of the 1007's image.

It's slightly better with the manual gearbox, but not much. The diesel is also pretty slow and while around town it makes up for it with low-rev pulling power and spectacular economy, it is very hard work at motorway speeds.

The 1.6-petrol is adequately powerful, but hamstrung by its semi-auto transmission, which seems slightly more refined and faster than the Citroën equivalent but is still painfully slow to react and no substitute for a fully automatic gearbox. Peugeot says it plans to offer a new engine that will sit between the 1.4- and 1.6-petrol and above the current 1.4-litre diesel.

The ride is well judged, especially for a tall car that needs a lot of suspension stiffness to prevent it rolling around. With the seats and the views, the 1007 is actually a nice, comfy place to sit.

The handling is heavily biased towards nose-on understeer, but at extremes the 1007 has a pretty fine balance before the ESP gently straightens things up. The electronically assisted power steering has moderate amounts of feedback and is light, which (with optional rear parking sensors) makes the 1007 easy to park.

The brakes are powerful, although the car's top-heaviness does pivot the whole body forwards on to the front wheels, so the anti-lock system has a lot to do in emergencies.

As a fill-up for the ageing 206 range, the 1007 will perform the same sort of role as Ford's Ka once did, keeping the factories churning as sales of other models decline, although Peugeot still maintains that its Ryton plant in Coventry can survive for the foreseeable future making 206 models even after the launch of its replacement.

The company wants to sell what it calls a conservative 130,000 1007s in Europe each year, 55 per cent of them petrol and 45 per cent diesel. The UK will take 10,000 of them, selling to "urban, fun-loving, free-thinking, fashion-conscious folk" - read 40- to 50-year-old women.

As to whether the 1007 can take on a sales life of its own, just as the Ka did, it's debateable. Peugeot has big plans - for alternative engines, a commercial version and other "Double O" (whoops) niche models in future.

The problem is that a lot of urban cars also double as main transport for people at the weekends and, once you clear the city limits, the 1007 is a disappointment. It's very expensive, woefully slow and not nearly as much fun to drive as the old 206.

The 1007 is an interesting and cool idea, with a lot going for it, but without a safety rethink right now those sliding doors are a fashionable indulgence that could become a liability. And how cool is that?

Peugeot 1007

Price/availability: from £10,850 OTR for the 1.4-litre manual in Dolce trim, to £12,600 OTR for the 1.6-litre semi-automatic, in Sport trim. On sale July.

Engine/transmission: 1,360cc, four-cylinder petrol with SOHC and two valves per cylinder; 74bhp at 5,400rpm and 88lb ft of torque at 3,300rpm. 1,587cc, four-cylinder petrol with DOHC and four valves per cylinder; 108bhp at 5,750rpm and 110lb ft at 4,000rpm. 1,398cc, four-cylinder diesel with SOHC with two valves per cylinder, turbocharger and common-rail fuel injection; 69bhp at 4,000rpm and 120lb ft at 2,000rpm. Five-speed manual available on 1.4-litre petrol and turbodiesel, "2-tronic" semi-automatic five-speed on 1.6-litre. Front-wheel drive.